Origin of Species Variorum

→ confirm, 1872

make more strictly correct, 1859

make truer, 1860 1861 1866 1869

→ a woodpecker, should 1872

woodpecker, should have been created to 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

→ possess 1872

have been created with 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

→ thrush-like bird should 1872

thrush should have been created to 1859 1860 1861 1866

thrush-like bird should have been created to 1869

→ the 1872

been created with 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

→ to a certain extent understand 1872

understand 1866 1869

→ there is so much beauty 1872

such harmonious beauty generally prevails 1866 1869

→ nature: for this may be largely attributed to the agency of selection. 1872

nature. 1866 1869

→ beauty, 1872

there are exceptions 1866 1869

→ it, is not universal, must be admitted by every one 1872

beauty, no one will doubt 1866 1869

→ OMIT 1872

generally to the males alone but sometimes to both sexes, 1866

the most brilliant colours and other ornaments to the males, but sometimes to both sexes 1869

→ the most brilliant colours, elegant patterns, and other ornaments to the males, and sometimes to both sexes of many 1872

the most brilliant and beautiful colours, as well as other ornaments, to our 1866

of many 1869

→ With birds it has often 1869 1872

It has 1866

→ OMIT 1869 1872

fruit have their 1866

↑ 1 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1861 1872; present in 1866 1869

And lastly, some living objects have become beautiful through mere symmetry of growth.

→ and improves the 1872

the 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

→ their co-inhabitants; 1872

the degree of perfection of their associates; 1859 1860 1861 1866

the other inhabitants; 1869

it can act only by

very

....

short and slow steps.

Hence

Hence,

the canon of "Natura non facit saltum," which every fresh addition to our knowledge tends to →confirm, is on this theory

simply

....

intelligible. We can see why throughout nature the same general end is gained by an almost infinite diversity of

means;

means,

for every peculiarity when once acquired is long inherited, and structures already

diversified

modified

in many

ways

different ways

have to be adapted for the same general purpose. We

can

can,

plainly

in short,

see why nature is prodigal in variety, though niggard in innovation. But why this should be a law of nature if each species

had

has

been

in dependently

independently

created, no man can explain.

Many other facts are, as it seems to me, explicable on this theory. How strange it is that a bird, under the form of →a woodpecker, should prey on insects on the ground; that upland

geese,

geese

which

never

rarely

never

swim, should →possess webbed feet; that a →thrush-like bird should dive and feed on sub-aquatic insects; and that a petrel should have →the

the habits

habits

and structure fitting it for the life of an

auk

auk!

or grebe!

....

and so

....

in endless other cases. But on the view of each species constantly trying to increase in number, with natural selection always ready to adapt the slowly varying descendants of each to any unoccupied or

ill-occu- pied

ill-occupied

place in nature, these facts cease to be strange, or

perhaps

....

might even have been anticipated.

We can →to a certain extent understand how it is that →there is so much beauty throughout →nature: for this may be largely attributed to the agency of selection. That →beauty, according to our

ideas

sense

of →it, is not universal, must be admitted by every one who will look at some

of the

....

venomous snakes, at some

fish,

fishes,

and at certain hideous bats with a distorted resemblance to the human face. Sexual selection has

given,

given

→OMIT →the most brilliant colours, elegant patterns, and other ornaments to the males, and sometimes to both sexes of many birds, butterflies, and

a few

....

other animals. →With birds it has often rendered the

voices

voice

many

the

male

birds

....

musical to

their

the

females,

female,

as well as to our ears. Flowers and fruit have been rendered conspicuous by

gaudy

brilliant

colours in contrast with the green foliage, in order that the flowers

might

may

be easily seen, visited, and fertilised by insects, and the →OMIT seeds disseminated by birds. How it comes that certain colours, sounds, and forms should give pleasure to man and the lower animals,— that is, how the sense of beauty in its simplest form was first acquired,— we do not know any more than how certain odours and flavours were first rendered agreeable. ↑

As natural selection acts by competition, it

renders

adapts

→and improves the inhabitants of each country

perfect only

only

in relation to →their co-inhabitants; so that we need feel no surprise at the